The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' Project: Notes on the Flowchart (Section 3d.2a.1) ©2003 John Latter (jorolat@msn.com)

[All drafts will be expanded upon once the basic framework has been established] 

Direct entry to this page? This is sub-section 3d.2b of "Socially Acceptable Violence" and should be
read in conjunction with the rest of section 3 ("Trauma - A Simple Internal Model") or
as part of the overall project ("The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' Project").

[Visit the "Socially Acceptable Violence" Discussion Egroups associated with the project at Yahoo and Msn] 

Contents of Section 3d.2a.1 "Notes on the Flowchart":

3) Trauma - A Simple Internal Model

  3d) The Model Revisited

     3d.1) Further notes on Pre-trauma
     3d.2) Further notes on Trauma

          3d.1a) Resolution of Trauma: Flowchart

              3d.2a.1) Notes on the Flowchart

                     3d.2b.1a) Preparation phase (Part 1) [1st Draft: 27th August '03]
                     3d.2b.2b) Contact phase
                     3d.2b.3c) Contact unsuccessful
                     3d.2b.4d) Contact successful

              3d.2a.2) Reaching the Primal Anger: "The Soldier's Story"

     3d.3) Further notes on Compounding a Trauma
     3d.4) Further notes on Erosion
     3d.5) Further notes on The Professional Abuser
     3d.6) Further notes on 'Mental Illness'

3d.2b) Notes on the Flowchart [Back to Top]

3d.2b.1) Preparation phase

"Establish Therapeutic Environment":   A fundamental question a self-aware hurt adult might ask is "Should I spend a lifetime finding endless diversions with which to take my mind off of (as an analogy) the ongoing ache of a 'dislocated shoulder', or would it be more sensible to prepare for the one-off event of experiencing a far different but transient pain, which will not only put my arm back into its socket but also restore all of its functions?"     If the "one-off" course of action is chosen then there are a number of important factors to be taken into consideration. For example, when an individual sustains a physical trauma such as a severely cut leg then he or she would not expect a doctor to put two stitches in one week, two the next, and so on until the prescribed amount had been inserted. It would not be a realistic approach to the injury - not least because the natural flow of blood is entirely unrelated to the artificial structure of society and its allocation of arbitrary units of time within which certain functions are only to be performed.

The best a doctor might do in such circumstances is perhaps insert one or two stitches per visit and then spend the rest of the time applying band-aids and salve to try and prevent the wound from bleeding or hurting too much until the next appointment is due. The wound might never heal - particularly if someone were to accidentally, or deliberately, knock the leg during the time that doctor and patient were apart.    From the perspective of re-integration (as opposed to adjustment) then similar arguments apply to psychological wounds as much as they do to physical ones. Re-integration requires total differentiation between self and trauma, and once embarked upon, it is a course of action that cannot be subsequently abandoned.    For this reason the ideal situation is one where the hurt adult is able to exist within a 24/7 therapeutic environment consisting of whatever home/work/play sub-environments are most appropriate to that person and the stage in re-integration process which has been reached. A therapeutic environment in this context does not mean the individual needs to be wrapped in cotton wool, it simply means that there should be no active sources of psychological violence within any sub-environment.    The resolution of trauma is also not a very pretty affair (see "The Soldier's Story"), and in everyday language, the need for such psychological safety stems from the difficulty - if not the impossibility - of "fighting a war on two fronts". Given the 'psychological noise' permeating many areas of society, and the cries for help that it drowns out, it would be one tragedy amongst many if a situation existed where differentiation had been achieved, the keys were known, but one or more of the sub-environments were unable to be made safe.    If attention is focussed upon social sub-environments, and children under 10 are temporarily excluded from consideration, then the need for safety will obviously still extend to many other individuals, including those who may never have the opportunity to attend any form of formal therapy at all. The following real-life account reflects a single aspect of the everyday difficulty there can be in attaining natural safety within a social environment: "Out of the frying pan and into the fire" This account will be referred to in other sections: The technique used to recruit the 17 year-old will be widely recognized but the underlying psychology making it effective may be less well known.  Not referred to in the account is the technique previously employed by the mature Professional Abuser to form a 'Master/Slave' relationship with the Community Care Officer. In addition, a wider perspective on the above real-life example can be gained by reading "Basic interaction between Abuser and Victim" & "Hardly Worth Mentioning" when they become available.

"Differentiate: 'VI' is set to its Initial Value":

3d.2b.2) Contact phase
3d.2b.3) Contact unsuccessful
3d.2b.4) Contact successful

[Back to Top]

Next Section:

Return to The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' Project main entry page

Return to the Evolution, Psychology, and Social Psychology homepage

[Visit the "Socially Acceptable Violence" Discussion Egroups at Yahoo and Msn] 

"Words frozen in time should be differentiated from those carved in stone" - John Latter

[Part of the "Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism" Group of Websites]

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to The Baldwin Effect